


This wasn't part of the job description

by BlissfulBethx



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Assistant Darcy Lewis, Avengers Family, Awesome Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis Feels, Darcy Lewis Is a Good Bro, Darcy Lewis-centric, Darcy is also a bit not good, Darcy is more appreciated than she realises, Domestic Avengers, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, POV Darcy Lewis, Post-Thor (2011), Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Scientist Wrangler Darcy Lewis, Tony Stark Has A Heart, idk what other tags to do, im bad at this lol, it might not seem like it yet but he is dw, lowkey doesn't fit in with the plots and timelines of the movies but whatever haha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:42:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29940510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlissfulBethx/pseuds/BlissfulBethx
Summary: “What? What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes scanning the programming uselessly. She was no stranger to code, in fact she would wager a bet that she was a better hacker than Stark himself, but with no previous knowledge of what Jarvis’ code should look like she was completely in the dark.“Someone has re-written sections of the coding” Tony bit out. Darcy could hear the venom in his voice and her anxiety rose a couple hundred notches. Jarvis was perhaps the best protected system in the world, for someone to hack into it and re-write the code was insane. Not to mention extremely terrible news.“But he controls everything, he’s everywhere. He is like the Big Brother of the Avengers Tower. This is- ““Bad. This is really, really bad” Tony gulped, and if Darcy thought he looked pale before, he looked ghost-like now.ORDarcy heads down to the lab to see Tony because everyone else is busy and she doesn't like to sit idle, but instead of sharing a coffee she is accidentally exposed to toxic chemicals and also someone has hacked into Jarvis. Are the two things related?(is this a shit summary? absolutely. Should you give the fic a shot anyway? Too right you should <3)
Relationships: Darcy Lewis & Everyone, Darcy Lewis & Jane, Darcy Lewis & Steve Rogers, Darcy Lewis & Tony Stark
Comments: 9
Kudos: 40





	This wasn't part of the job description

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :)
> 
> It's been a while since I have uploaded anything here lol, life has been a bit hectic recently. But anywayyyys, I really hope you enjoy this lil fic. I was inspired to write it after watching WandaVision and Thor for the first time (I'm watching all the movies in timeline order rn haha) because I have fallen slightly in love with the one and only Darcy Lewis. 
> 
> So, if you have read a fic of mine before: welcome back! It's so lovely to see you again, and if you haven't: Hey! My name is Beth and I'm really happy you decided to check my work out :)

If Darcy was to be perfectly candid, she wasn’t entirely sure what her specific job role was in the Avengers Tower – sure, she knew what it entailed, knew the ins and outs of her duties and delegations as well as she knew the back of her own hand, but her job title? Unclear. It made the admittedly few and far between phone calls with her parents slightly awkward, and also made it a little difficult to go anywhere else considering she barely had a real job where she was now. She had no intention of going anywhere else, of course – she would be the first to admit that interning for Eric and Jane and resultantly piggy-backing with them to lodge with the Avengers was the coolest thing to ever happen to her (excluding that one time she accidentally picked up the wrong coffee at Starbucks and it ended up belonging to _the_ Rachel McAdams – she had the picture framed in her room).

However, it did come with its uncertainties. For instance, the constant, niggling fear that someone far more powerful and important than her would one day shed their rose-tinted glasses and realise the absurdity of her presence in a tower dedicated to literally some of the greatest the world had to offer (she sat at a dining table with Captain _America_ for crying out loud) and the precious, yet extremely precarious life she was living would crumble to pieces around her. It’s not like they needed her there, they could survive without her. Her days consisted of nagging the likes of Tony, Bruce, and Jane to eat at least one substantial meal a day whilst they were engrossed with their work in the lab, running errands to pick up shopping or supplies, and occasionally the odd job like assisting Pepper with admin work, or her personal favourite: ogling the team as they sparred in the gym. Okay, so that last one wasn’t exactly part of her job description, at least she didn’t think so, but what could she say? She was only human.

In conclusion, she wasn’t essential. She wasn’t Stark, the super-genius who designed all of the weapons and suits whilst also kicking ass in his own right, or Steve, a literal super-soldier and text-book definition of a leader, or even Bruce, whose brain was one of the few things that could shock her into silence. Even Happy was more of a necessity than her. In all honesty, she was a glorified assistant. An assistant to the Avengers, but nevertheless an assistant all the same. She tried to placate herself by thinking of how Pepper started off as an assistant and ended up CEO, but somehow, she figured that was an exception-that-proved-the-rule kind of deal.

On one particular day, she was feeling especially restless. She had awoken to a sticky note stuck on her forehead written in Jane’s signature chicken-scratch explaining hastily how she had to rush away to another state for some sort of sampling that had to be done, and that she would be back soon. Darcy felt a tiny bit stung reading it, a part of her insulted that Jane hadn’t invited her along, but she shook it off and chalked it up to Jane assuming she would have too much work to do herself. Except, that wasn’t the case. After making her way to the lab with breakfast for the lab junkies (who were almost always either crashing on the couches or working fervently with bloodshot eyes and yesterday’s clothes) and then serving breakfast in the communal area for the remaining Avengers who hadn’t eaten yet (which comprised of Steve, Sam, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Scott and Peter – a nice surprise, wasn’t that kid supposed to be in school?)

Chatter around the table that morning was lively, and temporarily lifted Darcy’s spirits. Steve was entirely too complimentary about her sub-par pancakes, Natasha scoffed at Clint and Darcy’s choice of toppings (“you’re going to lose all your teeth before the age of 50”), to which Clint sneakily co-ordinated revenge (which came in the form of Wanda using her powers to splash orange juice on Natasha) and upon Peter’s insistence, Scott shrank down and allowed Peter to hold him in the palm of his hand (“he’s so tiny!” Peter had squealed ecstatically as Scott huffed in faux annoyance). All in all, a casual breakfast in the tower.

It had been so fun, in fact, that Darcy had basically forgotten about Jane’s trip away without her. At least until the plates had been cleared and everyone disappeared to various places to get some work done. Some headed down to the gym to train, Natasha and Clint headed out on a mission (something involving a stake-out and donuts from Dunkin’s), and Peter fled the scene when Jarvis informed him of Stark’s colourful threats that he “get his web-slinging ass to school”. Darcy was left brewing coffee alone in the kitchen, feeling very much like a spare part. Nobody had asked her to accompany them, or asked for a favour, or even ordered her to “take a goddamn break, Lewis” (another one-liner from the man of iron). She pondered asking Jarvis to put her on the line with Pepper to see whether there was anything she could do for her before remembering she would be in conferences all day and wouldn’t be able to answer. Sighing, Darcy slid onto the counter and slurped at her drink. The steam billowed lazily out of the mug and warmed her cheeks. It wasn’t the first day like this, where she was left to her own devices, but it didn’t make it any easier. She hated the idea of being idle, hating it even more when everyone else around her were working hard on their own things. Self-doubt began to creep its way up her spine until it nestled itself in her mind, drinking up her worry like a parasite. _If they see you sitting about for too long, they will realise you’re not needed_ , it whispered. Shivering, she hopped decisively off the counter and grabbed the tablet that Stark had designed for her to work with – maybe he would have something for her to do.

After quickly brewing another coffee, Darcy called out to the AI installed in the tower, “Jarvis, let Stark know I’m on my way down!”

“Of course, Miss Lewis”

“How many times do I have to tell you, J? It’s Darcy, Miss Lewis makes me sound _old_ ” she replied, scrunching her face at Jarvis’ formalities.

“As you wish, Miss Darcy” Jarvis responded diplomatically.

She laughed to herself as she stepped into the elevator, wondering how a computer programmed by Tony Stark could possess such impeccable manners.

“Mr. Stark would like me to inform you that he cannot allow anyone into the lab at present” Jarvis’ voice chimed in just as the elevator ground to a halt. Quirking her eyebrow, she eyed the closed doors expectantly, but they remained steadfastly closed.

“Seriously?” she groaned, and she swore Jarvis hummed sympathetically in response.

“Tell him I brought coffee, the _good_ stuff, and that I promise to be in and out in a flash”.

There was a couple beats of silence, and then the doors swished open and Jarvis told her that she was permitted a _very_ swift visit into the lab.

Stepping inside was akin to stepping into a science-fair in the epicentre of a warzone. Robots swung haphazardly around the room carrying numerous foreign chemicals and metals, and a film of smoke was clouding the air. Darcy quickly realised this was due to a small fire raging on one of the tables off to the side, which Tony was either unconcerned about or unaware of. Clunking and clanging assaulted Darcy’s ears and she had to resist the urge to drop the steaming mugs and cover them with her hands. A stench not unlike burnt eggs filled her nostrils, making her gag slightly. Eyes scanning the floor, she noticed puddles of bright chemicals, a result of a machine that was currently spurting the liquids out of its top like a humpback whale, and some bubbled and fizzed ominously by Tony’s feet. Speaking of the genius, he stood in the eye of the storm, forever encapsulated by chaos, seemingly nonplussed by the pandemonium that was raging around him.

Darcy took this all in in the space of a few seconds. She blinked once, and then again for good measure, and then carried out triage in her mind. Fire and potentially dangerous chemicals seemed like the best place to start.

“Uh, Tony? You seem to have a slight fire on your hands – and also one of your machines is broken and spitting acid everywhere”.

Tony’s head snapped up to her in surprise, even though it can’t have been more than 15 seconds since he allowed Jarvis to let her in.

“Lewis! To what do I owe the pleasure?” He greeted her kindly, completely ignoring her previous warnings. She fumbled for a response, her eyes darting between his showman’s smile and the flames that were dangerously close to licking the curtains. Tony followed her gaze and his mouth dropped into a little ‘o’.

“Hey Jarvis, wanna do something about that for me? Thanks bud” he requested distractedly, his attention already drawn away from the fire and to the faulty machine within a few nanoseconds. Darcy briefly wondered why Jarvis hadn’t done anything about the fire before now in the back of her mind, however the front of her mind was very much focused on Tony, who was flapping her over to help him hold something in place for him. Abandoning the mugs on the surface closest to her (a stack of books that looked _incredibly_ complicated) she hurried to Tony’ side and grasped the piece of machinery. Tony turned away, searching for a tool, leaving Darcy to dodge the spraying acid, and trying not to inhale too much of the multitude of fumes clogging the air.

“This isn’t toxic or anything, right?” she asked, half-joking, her lip quirking up nervously.

“Just, uh, don’t swallow any. Or touch any of it. In fact, just stay as far away from it as possible” he advised wearily, hands running through his hair as his wide eyes jumped about the room. Darcy resisted the urge to gulp and leant further away from the chemicals flying through the air.

“Aha!” Tony exclaimed, scaring Darcy half to death as he scrambled towards a toolbox discarded clumsily underneath a bench. He swooped back to her and began trying to fix the machine, and it was then that Darcy really took in his appearance. Somehow, she had missed the biohazard suit he was donning. He even had a mask on, a realisation that had Darcy subconsciously holding her breath.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have this fixed in a jiffy, and then we can enjoy that nice coffee you so kindly made” he reassured her, though the frantic look in his eyes sort of cancelled out his reassurance. True to his word, the machine was fixed in under a minute and he stepped away from it with a flourish of his hand.

“and voila, good as new” he announced, proceeding to dramatically bow as Darcy quickly put some distance between her and the still sizzling puddles. Despite the intensity of the past 3 minutes, she felt a laugh bubbling within her, and she let it out with a shake of her head.

“How did you not notice that?” She questioned him incredulously, and he had the grace to look a little sheepish.

“Well, you know how it is, lots to do, many impossible feats to achieve, so on and so forth” he shrugged nonchalantly, brushing by her to retrieve the mugs that lay untouched on the stack of books. He took a tentative sip and hummed in satisfaction.

“Still warm, too” he said as he handed over her mug. It had a cartoon of Thor on it, and she had actually bought it for him as a gift (spoiler alert: he _loved_ it) but she had fallen into the habit of using it when he wasn’t around. She cupped her hands around it and basked in the heat and the beautiful smell of coffee beans and hazelnut. In the aftermath of the chaos, a temporary calm had settled in the lab. The morning sun was streaming through the windows and basking the room in a golden glow, and the noise of machinery had faded into a quiet murmur in the background. Darcy stole a second to observe Tony over the rim of her mug and swiftly deduced a few things. One, he looked tired, the kind of tired that screamed ‘I haven’t slept in 2 and a half days’ (Darcy kept track, with the help of Jarvis). Two, he seemed a little pale, which Darcy supposed would have something to do with the lack of proper sleep and/or food. Finally, he seemed antsy. Fidgety. Like he was buzzing with energy but was forcibly tethered to one spot. She felt a little guilty for interrupting his work to share a coffee with him, but she silently reasoned that he may have either burned to death or died of exposure from the weird, colourful chemicals.

“What is that stuff anyway?” She asked Tony after a few moments of quiet between the two, head cocking to the side as she examined the liquid that was now being cleaned up by the robots Tony had running about after him.

He hesitated for just a second, but it was enough to catch Darcy’s attention. Her stomach knotted uneasily as she sipped at her coffee.

“Just some things I was looking to coat Barton’s arrows in, nothing too important”.

“You sure? Cause for some reason I’m finding it hard to believe you Stark” she deadpanned, narrowing her eyes at the scientist. He shifted uneasily under her glare until he finally broke, wiping some sweat of off his brow as he done so.

“I’m not technically sure what it is. It was sent in an unmarked package from an anonymous person. But I am sure its fine. Most likely. Probably. Should maybe keep you under observation just to make sure. Hey Jarvis? Keep an eye on her. Tell me if she grows an extra head or something”.

Darcy gawked at him incredulously, her coffee sitting forgotten on the table she leant against.

“You don’t know what it is? Why did you let me in then?” Her hands flapped about wildly and Tony raised his own in defence.

“I didn’t Lewis, you let yourself in. That’s on you”

“It’s hardly my fault- wait what?” she faltered, brows creasing in confusion.

“You were the one who waltzed in unannounced. Speaking of, Jarvis I thought I told you to ask for my permission before granting anyone access”.

Darcy shook her head in a mix of bewilderment and frustration. If she had anticipated this, she would have chosen to enjoy her coffee in the comfort of her bed, watching re-runs of Keeping up with the Kardashians.

“You _did_ grant me access, Tony” Darcy argued back with a roll of her eyes.

“Uh, no I didn’t”

“Yes, you did. Tell him J”.

Jarvis stayed suspiciously silent.

“Aha! See, he agrees with me!” Tony grinned, looking like the double of the Cheshire cat.

“He’s biased because you designed him, I swear to god Tony he let me in, we had a full convers-“

“Jarvis, would you tell Miss Lewis that she’s wrong already so that we can all move on with our day knowing that I am always right” Tony interrupted, sounding bored. Darcy failed to hold back a scoff. They waited expectantly.

Silence.

“Huh” Tony remarked. “That’s new”. Darcy nodded in agreement, squinting at the ceiling as if that would reveal any answers.

“J? You there?”

More silence.

“Yep. Definitely strange” Dodging the robots still working on the puddles, Tony made his way to a computer with Darcy close on his heels. She watched as he accessed a file dedicated to Jarvis and felt him physically tense next to her.

“What, what is it? What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes scanning the programming uselessly. She was no stranger to code, in fact she would wager a bet that she was a better hacker than Stark himself, but with no previous knowledge of what Jarvis’ code should look like she was completely in the dark.

“Someone has re-written sections of the coding” Tony bit out. Darcy could hear the venom in his voice and her anxiety rose a couple hundred notches. Jarvis was perhaps the best protected system in the world, for someone to hack into it and re-write the code was insane. Not to mention extremely terrible news.

“But he controls everything, he’s everywhere. He is like the Big Brother of the Avengers Tower. This is- “

“Bad. This is really, really bad” Tony gulped, and if Darcy thought he looked pale before, he looked ghost-like now. Snapping into action, he began to furiously punch code onto his screen, his fingers moving at an almost inhuman speed. Darcy noted that her head was beginning to ache.

“Darcy, phone Pepper and tell her what’s going on”.

“She’s got those conferences today, she won’t answer”. She fumbled clumsily for her phone in her pocket, her hands clammy and shaking.

“Then phone Happy!” Tony yelled; his eyes still glued to his screen.

Somehow Darcy managed to fish the phone out of her pocket and locate Happy’s number. It had been given to her in case of an emergency. Her stomach lurched uncomfortably as she realised that this is exactly what this was. Hitting the dial button, she opted to put the phone on loudspeaker, not trusting herself to speak at that moment. Vertigo was making her head spin and her stomach was twisting itself into knots. Alarm bells began to ring in her head. Why the hell was she feeling like this?

She came back to reality with a start, after zoning out for seemingly Tony and Happy’s whole conversation. Tony had previously been focused intently on his screen, but now his head was tilted towards hers, concern etched into the lines on his face.

“Hey, kid? You don’t look so hot. You need to sit down or something?”

Darcy tried to summon a snarky response, but her tongue felt too big in her mouth and there was bile burning at the back of her throat. Instead, she shook her head weakly as her vision swam.

“S’mthing’s wrong” she slurred as her world sloped precariously to the side. She stumbled into the table and only just managed to stay on her feet. Tony suddenly teleported to her side and his arms caught her just as her knees buckled. Then suddenly they were on the ground. How did they end up there? Another wave of dizziness threatened to take her out, and she only just managed to cling to consciousness because someone was shouting her name. She tried to blink away the darkness that encroached her vision and was just able to make out the worried face of Tony Stark. His mouth was moving, and she could faintly hear her name, but the pounding of her head was so _loud_ -

“Darcy? Darcy, hey! Eyes on me, kid. You need to talk to me, what hurts?”

Hurts? Oh, right. Pain. Everywhere. Oh god, it hurt everywhere. She heard someone whimpering and there was tears streaming down her cheeks. Jesus Christ, it hurt _everywhere_. Suddenly there was a cool, hard surface beneath her head in place of the cushioned lap from before, and Tony’s voice drifted over her body like waves in the ocean. Her eyes rolled in her sockets as she fought to keep them open, agony ravaging every inch of her body. There was a rushing sound in her ears, like white noise on a badly tuned radio and her she could taste metallic tinged bile pooling in her mouth. Then there were more hands, except these ones were different than before and the head that bobbed above her had blonde hair and kind, blue eyes that were wide with worry. Her own eyes felt heavy.

She felt tapping on her cheeks, then someone shaking her arm, then pinching a nerve in her neck. The latter resulted in a burst of pain, and she cringed away from it with a startled cry.

“Darcy? Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me”.

This voice was eerily calm and controlled, but somewhere in her mind she recognised it. Trusted it. When she felt steady hands holding her own, she weakly squeezed.

“Good! Darcy, that is so good. Can you open your eyes for me now? Look at Steve for me”.

Open them? When did she close them? She felt like she was buffering. Things kept happening and she couldn’t keep track of how or when. Another pinch to her neck had her eyes wrenching open, and she was met with the bleary sight of Captain America crouched over her. There was a flurry of activity happening around them and she couldn’t bear to look at the constant movement of everyone without feeling dangerously nauseas. Since when were there so many people there? Someone (Steve, her mind managed to supply for her) tilted her head gently to look at him, his mouth upturned into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Hey Darce, try to keep looking at me. We need you to stay awake right now. We’re trying to figure out what’s causing you to feel like this”. His words floated through the air like leaves in the wind, and none of it really registered, but listening to him talk was better than focusing on the burning agony coursing around her body.

“ _Hurts_ ”. The word came from her lips, but she didn’t remember when she decided to say it. His face creased in concern, and some distant part of Darcy’s brain noted how adorable he looked. Her teeth chattered as she shivered, suddenly feeling very cold. Someone yelled something about shock, and then there was a blanket placed over her and an IV in her arm. Then her hearing went staticky and the bobbing heads faded into black. They called her name, again and again, and she felt the pressure of the pinch on her neck, but the pain had blessedly ebbed away, replaced by blissful numbness. Her fingers tingled as her eyes rolled closed. Someone grabbed her limp hand and took her pulse. There was movement, a sinking sensation, then she was suddenly on a bed of some sort. Her head felt so heavy. A final wave of vertigo crashed over her.

And then there was nothing.

**Author's Note:**

> Ta daaaa 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! If you liked this, maybe you could leave a little kudos, or even a comment? They truly make my day :D 
> 
> Hope to see you back here soon, love you 3000 <3


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